1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fibrous products, and more particularly to a bonded buoyant fiber product.
2. Prior Art
Polyester fiber has many applications, including use in waterbed mattresses for the purpose of inhibiting wave motion. As set forth in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,301,560 entitled "Waterbed Mattress", which issued Nov. 24, 1981, and which is hereby incorporated by reference, bonded nonwoven polyester fiber disposed within a waterbed mattress very effectively reduces undesirable wave motion.
The most undesirable wave motion occurs near the upper surface of the mattress. This portion of the wave motion can be inhibited by positioning the fiber in the upper part of the mattress. This can be accomplished by filling substantially all of the mattress with the fiber. The fiber, which is nonbuoyant, rests on the bottom, inner surface of the mattress and extends upward into the upper portion of the mattress.
Although wave motion can be effectively reduced in the manner described above, the necessity of filling substantially all of the mattress with the fiber is a serious drawback. The large required amount of fiber increases the shipping weight of the mattress and, more importantly, significantly increases the cost of manufacturing the mattress.
One solution to the above problem is to render the bonded fiber buoyant in some manner. The term buoyant as used herein means buoyant in water. One prior art appraoch is to construct a laminated fiber pad comprised of an upper layer of fiber, a middle layer of buoyant foam material and a lower layer of fiber. The buoyant foam material can be either a thin foam pad or a thin layer of foam beads. The laminated pad is held together by suitable adhesives, stiching, riviting and other similar methods.
The prior art buoyant laminated pads are effective in suppressing wave motion. However, such pads are relatively expensive to manufacture because of the large amount of manual labor required in the manufacture.
Another prior art attempt to produce a buoyant fiber product involves the use of polypropolene fiber. This fiber, unlike polyester fiber, is buoyant in water. However, if a commonly used bonding agent, such as acrylic latex, is used the fiber is rendered non-buoyant. Experiments have been conducted with buoyant bonding agents. However, it is not believed that any of such experiments have been met with success.
The present invention overcomes the above-described shortcomings. A novel buoyant fiber product is disclosed which may be used effectively to reduce wave motion in a waterbed mattress. Conventional automated assembly lines for producing non-buoyant bonded fiber can be readily and easily adapted to manufacture the subject fiber product. Essentially no manual labor is required; therefore, the cost of manufacturing the buoyant fiber does not greatly exceed that of bonded non-buoyant fiber. These and other advantages of the subject invention will become apparent after reading the following detailed description of the invention together with the drawings.